Cruise ship hantavirus latest: British crew member needing ‘urgent’ care to be evacuated after outbreak

“Our days have been close to normal, just waiting for authorities to find a solution,” passenger Qasem Elhato, 31, told AP.

“But morale on the ship is high and we’re keeping ourselves busy with reading, watching movies, having hot drinks and that kind of things.”

Helene Goessaert, another passenger, told Belgian broadcaster VRT that everyone onboard is “in the same boat, literally.”

“You don’t embark on a trip with the idea that one of your fellow passengers won’t make it,” she said.

“We receive information at regular intervals. It is accurate. For the rest, it is a waiting game,” she added. “Today we received fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. That was very important to us.”

The Government is putting “plans in place” for the onward travel of Britons stuck aboard a cruise ship hit by a suspected hantavirus outbreak, the prime minister said earlier.

In a post on X, Sir Keir Starmer said: “My thoughts are with those affected by the hantavirus outbreak onboard the MV Hondius.

“We are working closely with international partners to support British nationals on board and we’re putting plans in place for their safe onward travel.

“The risk to the wider public remains very low – protecting the British people is our number one priority.”

Tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions has issued the following update about evacuations:

• The medical evacuation of two individuals currently requiring urgent medical care, and the individual associated with the guest who passed away on 2 May, will occur using two specialised aircraft that are en route to Cape Verde. From here, the patients are to be medically evacuated to the Netherlands. At this stage, we do not have an exact timeline.
• Once these three individuals have been safely transferred from the vessel and are in transit to the Netherlands, the m/v Hondius will begin repositioning. Our plan is to proceed to the Canary Islands, either Gran Canaria or Tenerife, which will take 3 days of sailing. Discussions are ongoing with relevant authorities. This will be shared when concrete plans are available.

Mark Fielder, professor in medical microbiology at Kingston University London, said: “With the current understanding of the ongoing infection and the likelihood that stringent infection control measures are being implemented on board the vessel, it is likely that further ongoing transmission will be limited.

“The isolation of infected patients, regular handwashing, monitoring of close contacts, and the application of infection control measures will all be critical to limiting and halting onward spread of the disease.

“Once the ship docks it is likely that arrangements will be made for the remaining passengers and crew to be medically assessed and then be taken into a period of quarantine and monitoring to ensure the control of any infection and provide early medical intervention where needed.”

Passengers will not be allowed off the MV Hondius, location for an outbreak of hantavirus, until it reaches the Canary Islands – 900 miles northeast of its present location, Cape Verde. The voyage is expected to take three days.

Three people who were on the voyage from Argentina to Cape Verde have died and a British man is in hospital in South Africa.

The health authorities in Cape Verde have refused to allow the non-symptomatic passengers and crew to disembark.

Hantaviruses, which have been present for centuries, have a documented history of outbreaks across Asia and Europe.

In the Eastern Hemisphere, these viruses have been associated with severe conditions such as haemorrhagic fever and kidney failure.

A distinct group of hantaviruses emerged in the early 1990s in the southwestern United States, leading to the acute respiratory disease now known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Three people have died amid the suspected outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, which departed Ushuaia in southern Argentina on March 20 and was due to arrive in Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, on May 4.

Travel blogger Jake Rosmarin, who has over 44,000 followers on Instagram, was aboard the ship when the suspected outbreak, a rare infection passed from rodents to humans, typically through their urine, droppings or saliva, struck. The infection can be fatal as it has no cure.

“I am currently on board the MV Hondius, and what’s happening right now is very real for all of us here,” Rosmarin said in a video shared Monday on Instagram. “We’re not just a story, we’re not just headlines. We’re people. People with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home.”

The ship is off the coast of Cape Verde, where it is hoped the medical evacuation of the British crew member, along with a Dutch colleague and a passenger, will take place, with Dutch authorities are leading evacuation plans.

Other passengers are confined to their cabins while “disinfection and other public health measures are carried out”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions said the operation is “complex” adding: “This will involve two specialised aircraft equipped with the necessary medical equipment and staffed by trained medical crews.

“This is not confirmed and is subject to change.”

They are said to need “urgent medical care” after having acute respiratory symptoms.”

The WHO said its “highest priority” is to “medically evacuate these two individuals to make sure that they have the care that they receive”.

The hygiene of cruise lines may be under scrutiny after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a polar expedition vessel – but passengers should be reassured that cases are rare.

At least three people have died aboard Oceanwide Expeditions’ MV Hondius, which began a remote voyage from Argentina to Cape Verde on 1 April, carrying 147 passengers.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said a total of seven hantavirus cases – two confirmed and five suspected – had been identified on the cruise ship so far.

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